Did a shorter route out and back to Corryhabbie Hill on 15 Aug 2016. The summer rain has again caused damage to the Land Rover track leaving a loose stone & rock surface. Once you get up to the trig p... read whole comment...

oldmack gave this trail 3 stars about 3 years ago

Update on trail conditions as of Sept. 2012.
The route is mostly on tracks with lots of loose rock, which make the trail quite hard work.
The climb up to Cooks cairn is on an indistinct and peat... read whole comment...

andyw commented about 7 years ago

Good remote XC route. The challenge is all about fitness rather than technical skills and the rewards come from the scenery, rather than the trail, which is rarely technical or smooth enough to be r... read whole comment...

andyw commented about 7 years ago

andyw gave this trail 3 stars about 7 years ago

Landy track all the way round this shooting estate. A big ride with some hard climbing and beautiful scenery. A number of river crossings along the way but all rideable. Good but no singletrack or fas... read whole comment...

Glenfiddich Estate

I originally found this route somewhere, probably on the Ecurie Neeps forums. I completed in in July 2011 in just over 4hrs. The surface is mainly landrover tracks of variable quality, some of which when I did it were very badly eroded (bike and rider swallowing sized), probably due to extremely heavy rain a few months earlier. There's also a fair bit of climbing involved as it takes in the summits of Corryhabbie Hill (Corbett) and Cooks Cairn (Graham). It's also quite remote with no easy escape route so be prepared accordingly, especially if like me you ride it solo. I saw 2 people in total, and that was just outside the woods near the start, on a decent day in July.

The route.

Leaving your car follow the fire road through the forest, initially climbing on an easy gradient, keeping left at the one track junction, before a freewheel down to the edge of the forest. After going through the gate in the deer fence (Tag 7) take the track to the right.

Follow the track until you can see Glenfiddich lodge in front of you, and take the track to your left which climbs steeply up the hillside(Tag 1). Continue following this track until you reach the col between Hill of Glenroads to your right and Corryhabbie Hill to your left (Tag 2). Here you'll see an obvious track to your left which will take you to the trig point at the top of Corryhabbie Hill (Corbett). The route up the hill is rideable, so if you've done so then enjoy a rest and the views.

Double back a bit from the summit and take the track to the right which zig-zags steeply southeast down the hillside. I found this to be very rough in places with lots of large, loose rocks so be careful. Once in the floor of the glen turn right and follow the decent track southwest toward the ruins at Suie.

Just before you reach the ruins at Suie you need to take a sharp left to pick up the track/path that runs northeast towards Cooks Cairn (Tag 3). If you end up in a wide rut about 4 ft deep then climb out to your left where you'll find a faint path that's much easier to progress along. The path/track here isn't as good as elsewhere and for parts at least you may find yourself pushing up to the col between Cooks Cairn and Carn na Bruar.

From this col (Tag 4)you have the option of a diversion of about 1.5km each way to the top of Cooks Cairn (Graham). I managed to ride to around 0.5km short of the summit before I decided it'd be easier/quicker to walk the rest.

After returning from the top of Cooks Cairn turn left down the track the heads west towards the Black Water. This is downhill all the way, but unfortunately this is also where I came across the worse track erosion on the route so it was slower than I'd hoped. Once you reach the Black Water (Tag 5) you have the enticing prospect of wading through it to the track on the other side. It's not particularly deep but I don't think it's rideable so wet feet are inevitable.

Once across the Black Water, don't waste time ringing out your socks like I did as they will likely be wet again soon after. Instead, turn left and follow the track north towards Blackwater Lodge. Just short of the lodge (Tag 6) the map shows two options, one to the left involves wet feet again as you re-cross the Black Water and a small tributary, the one to the right suggest there's a bridge further downstream. I missed the right-hand fork somehow, so ended up with wet feet again. Looking downstream from the lodge I couldn't see the bridge suggested on the map so can't be sure it actually still exists.

From Blackwater Lodge follow the track North around the side of Scaut Hill until you meet up with your outward route at the edge of the forest and the gate in the deer fence (Tag 7). This is a good, long, slightly downhill section and the only point I managed to build up any great speed all day. Once though the fence, and the initial short climb into the forest again, it's an easy freewheel back to the car.

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Average rating for the trails at Glenfiddich

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Overall comments about Glenfiddich

They are currently building a windfarm at this site and the road is closed to civilians at least for the next year or so

ajcowieuk commented about 3 years ago

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